Trio plead not guilty to assaulting O’side resident

OCEANSIDE — Former Oceanside Councilwoman Shari Mackin’s son and two other men will have to stand trial for the alleged drunken assault of a 63-year-old woman after she confronted them about being rowdy, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled Dec. 18.
After a 1-and-a-half-day preliminary hearing in a Vista courtroom, Judge Joel Pressman found enough evidence to bind over the three defendants, who are all in their 20s, on charges relating to the Nov. 29 assault on Marion Kyle that spilled from her front yard into the street.
Tyler Mackin, 23, and Richard Vaughn, 24, are charged with a single count each of false imprisonment, assault, vandalism and making criminal threats. Twenty-three-year-old Brandin Evinger is charged with assault, vandalism and resisting arrest.
Pressman dismissed the false imprisonment charge pertaining to Evinger. Mackin also faces a charge of resisting arrest.
At the start of the hearing, Deputy District Attorney George Loyd filed an amended complaint, which replaced a kidnapping charge with the false imprisonment count.
Loyd said his office felt the amended charges better described the trio’s actions that evening.
All three men face potential prison time for their roles in the attack, the prosecutor said.
Witnesses testified they were at the Kyle’s house on South Tremont Street for dinner and to watch the San Diego Chargers football game on the day of the incident.
Around 7 p.m., Krista MacFarlane said she heard bottles breaking in the alley and when she asked the defendants to respect the neighborhood she was showered with obscenities from the young men.
Soon after, MacFarlane, who only identified Mackin and Vaughn at the proceeding, said she saw the trio kick Kyle’s fence and then aggressively confront her as she came out to speak with them.
“They were like monsters,” MacFarlane said.
Kyle said Evinger, who she at first misidentified in court, tapped her chest, as she stood toe-to-toe with the defendants at her property line. Then, after Mackin kicked her gate, he and Vaughn assaulted her and dragged her off her property.
She said she suffered scrapes and bruising to her arms and hands, as well as had a welt on her lower back from where she said she was kicked and stomped.
Kyle said two of her fence gates had been broken, which she testified cost nearly $800 to replace.
The trio’s next scheduled court appearance is a Feb. 18 readiness conference. Their trial was set for May 4.
All three men remain out of custody on bail.